Organ



July 26, 1927. F. WINDER 1,537,323

ORGAN Filed N v, 30. 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR;

Char/es f. lA/z'nden v BY ATTORNEYS. J

Patented July 26, 1927.

osirsosrmesrA rsnr fOFF l-CE.

CHA'RLAESE. m ma, or HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA), .ASSIGNOR T0 rim SYMPHONAER 00., A CORPORATION-0EDELAWARE;

Application filed November 30, 1925. Serial 1%. 72,212.

This invention relates to organs, and in particular toanovel means for controlling the. swells} At the present time inorgaii' ronstructioirit is customary topi'ov de what is termed a swell pedal, whichis controlled by the foot. It is also customary to provide, and in fact, standard practice to p'ropvide, foot pedal keys, and it is practically impossible to operate the foot control for a swell when both feet are required on the foot pedal is given whatsoever.

:eys, with the result that no expression the ditliculty of 1'ilaying' such a" composition with a present organ will iii'iined ately be appleased to term a one-leother foot infan attempt to play the foot pedal keys. Where truly fine orgaii'playing is required this so-called one-foot pedal work and key work is extremely poor technique.

riii'object of inyinlveiitioii is to overcome the ditlicultie'sheretofore present intlie con H trol of the swellor expression shutters of y p p p with one form of seator bench which may an organ and to provide an organ with means whereby both feet may. be used for playing the foot pedals wit-lithe hands c011- ti'olling the EXPIBSSIOH 'or swell, in accordance with pressure exerted on the keys of the 7 manual keyboard. The advantage of this 1S) iiziinediately. apparent, and compositions that heretofore havebeen dithcult of execu- 'i'lOH are easily played by the expert organist.

At best, gymnastic foot-work has been over-' come. My invention goes astep further, in; that I utilize body i'noveinent in controlling the swelland expression so that aftera key.

or keys on the manual keyboarc'l "have been depressed a certain distance to produce a certain eimression, this expression or swell can be maintained by the oiganistby shifting his body position. I accomplish .this latter result in any one of several manners, such as by pi ovidii'igwrecker-like motion to the seat or bench, the degree of movement of such seat or bench controlling the expression. shutters. For that inattenthe back of the seat or bench couldbe iiio vabl'e ,';j"so that by )ressiiie' backwardl amuse such back the expression shutters could be maintained in any desired position.

The inveiitionhas i'or further objects the provision of a novel means for controlling If we consider such musical compositions as the Bach Fugue, v

the expression or swell shutters of an organ which is inexpensive of manufacture, simple .in construction and generally superior in .ful provision, formation, construction, as.-

sociation and relative arrangement of parts, members and features,-all as shown in certain embodiments in the accompanying drawings, described generally and ,IHOTGVPGJJ- ticularly pointed out in claims.

In the drawings: s Figure 1 1s a fragmentary side elevation of two manual key-boards both of which incorporate the iiiveiitioi Figure 2 is a fragmentary and partially sectionalplan View of features of the organ operated by the manuals shownin Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a cross sectional view ofthe pressure'btix such as used in organ practice;

Figure 4 'isa plan view of pedal keys such as 'are ,now in general use, and showing a further portion of the invention for controlling the expression or swell;

Figure 5 is'a side elevation of the console ..sociated with the seat. or benoh for controlling the expression or swell shutters; and,

Figure 7 is' a fragmentary vertical sectional view of certain motors used in prac tlcing the invention.

Corresponding parts in all the figures are designated by the same reference characters.

The complete invention involves the keyboard and means associated therewith for actuating the swell shutters and the said means are separately shown in Figures 1 and The invention an entirety for the two ligures is designated by A, of which B re reseiits the manual keyboard having two V manuals (rand Z), and the shutter mechanism is des gnated as .an entirety by C, which nechaiiisi n includes shutters c and motors d for actuating the shutters. y At the-present time aln' ostuniversally a series of shutters following the Venetian blindprinciple are placed iii front of 'or act "as the front portion of an organ chest. These shutters, are actuated by a lever so that they opener close simultaneously a predeterii'iiiied amount. Vithm the organ lOU chamber is the chest, said chest having pipes of various sizes, shapes and diameters, to produce the tones desired.

In the presentinvention the shutter mechanism C is standard of arran ement with the exception of the expression s utters c which are of the form shown and claimed in my 3 application for patent executed this 25th day of November, 1925. As illustratin the invention I have shown two organ c ambers e and 7 within which chambers are chests g and h. The chests contain the pipes. The expression shutters a close or open the front portion of the said chambers, so that the music emitted by the pipes may be heard in a room adjacent the organ chambers. I might say that this is not always true, but

' depends u on the efl'ectdesired, such as for echoes an the like, and the chest might be removed some distance from the normal organ room. The motors d comprise a series of small bellows 7' and the number of such motors used will depend uponthe degree of expression desired, and to this end the motors will be directly controlled by certain mechanism of the invention associated with the manual keyboard. Two of the motors are shown in cross section in Fig. 7 and the type of motor therein depicted is of standard practice such as is universally used at the present time by organ manufacturers. In detail, I will say that each motor includes a disc 1 with a flexible element or bellows 2 joining opposed faces of adjacent discsof two of such motors. A port 3 extends through the disc 1 and opens between the adjacent facesof two of such discs and within the bellows portion and with a suitable tube or tubes 4 communicating with the port 3 so that air may be forced through said port to expand the bellows. The tubes are flexible of the shutters c.

and communicate witha pressure box 10. It will be noted that there is a partition or leg 5, against the surface of which, a motor as shown at 6 abuts, and the last motor shown at 7 is directly associated with a rod 8 which is movable to control the opening or closing As between the motors shown at 6 and 7 I have numerous other motors the number of which will depend upon the degree of expression or openin of the expression shutters desired, as be ore pointed out. Thus if air is emitted between the motor 6 and the next motor adjacent thereto. the rod 8 will be moved a certain distance inwardly of the organ chamber. In the showing of Fig; 2 the said rod 8, has been moved by five of said motors and the shutters are partially opened. The pressure box which controls operation of the motors is shown in enlarged crosssection in Fig. 3, and this pressure box is of standard practice. However, 9 is a casing, the bottom wall 10 of which is formed to carry inechanism m for controlling operation of the motors, which is to say, permitting air to expand the bellows or to exhaust the bellows thereof.

Figure 3 illustrates one of such mechanisms m for controllin the bellows between two adjacent motors. The pressure box base 10 is bored at 11 so as to confine a magnet 12, the le pieces of which are received and carried y a part 13 associated with the base 10. The part 13 is formed with a port 14 in communication with the o ning or bore 11 and such part 13 is cham ered as shown at 15 with the said port 14 communicating with such chamber. Immediately below the port 14 and of enlarged diameter is a second port 16 and normally closing this port is a pallet or keeper 17 maintained in position over such port by guides 18. The ends of the poles of the magnets are immediately above the top surface of the pallet or keepers 17. The base 10 is formed with a bore or port 19 communicating with the chamber 15 and a member 20 formed with a port 21 is in communication with the port 19 and likewise in communication with the interior of a motor 22. This motor constitutes a small bellows having a bellows part 33 of flexible material interposed between a fixed and a movable disc 24 and 25 respectively. The base 10 is chambered at 26 and has an opening of reduced diameter 27 communicating with the chamber and with the interior of the 1pressure box and which opening is normal y closed by a disc 28. Immediately below the base 10 and closing the chamber 26 is a piece 29 formed with a port or opening 30 in communication with the chamber 26. Carried b the disc 25 and extending through t e chamber 26 and outwardly thereof is a stem 31. The stem carries discs 28 and 33,which discs are spacedly and adjustably locked on said stem by nuts 32 and 34 respectively. A'port 35 is in communication with the chamber 26, and it will be noted that one of the tubes 4 communicates with such port 35.

As a brief statement of the operation of this device just described, will say the pressure box isnormally air-tight and has air forced within the same by a suitable compressor;

In Figure 5 I have shown in dotted lines at 36 the balance or expression pedal which is associated with the console, and when this balance or expremion pedal is moved by the.

foot the shutters are opened or closed, the degree of opening of the shutters dependin upon the movement of the balance peda It is to be understood that this is standard practice. When the balance pedal 36 in organs, as now installed, ismoved. and assummg the parts in the position of Fig. 3, the magnet 12 is energized, and the pedal or keeper 17 is drawn upwardly by the pole pieces of the magnet which will close the IUD into the-chamber and outwardly to the' atmosphere through theport 16. This will occur for the reason that the air pressure within the pressure box will move the bottom disc of such motor upwardly, and

c in doing so the disc 28 which closes communication to the port 27 will be lifted and air from the pressure box will enter the chamber 26 and pass through .the port 35 and the tube 4 to one of the motors d. The air cannot escape fromthe pressure box to the atmosphere from the chamber 26, for the reason that the disc 33 will close the port 30.

When the pressure is relieved from the bal ance or expression pedal 36 and it returns to normal, the pallet 17 will drop to theposition shown in Fig. 3 and air in the pressure box will then pass through the port 14 into the chamber 15, through the ports 19 and21, and expand the bellows of the-motor 22, forcing-the disc 28 to close entrance to the port 27 at the same time moving the disc 33 from the member 29 where it formerly closed the port 30, with the result that the air in the motor (Z will be exhausted to the atmosphere through the tube 4, the port 35 and, the port'30.

This action is very rapid. As has been stated, there will be as many of the devices shownin Fig. 3 as there are motors cl.

The difficulties as enumerated in the playing of an organ will now be apparent, for.

the reason that the feet are required to. play upon certain foot keys 01 shown in Fig. 4.

37 and 38 represent the natural and sharp keys respectively which must be played by the feet-and the difficulty of properly play ing upon such keys and at the same time operating the balance pedal 36 will be apparent. The balance pedal controls the pianissimo, piano, mezzo, forte and fortissimo, and if a composition such as the Bach Fugue is to be played proper pedaling in laying of the keys 37 and 38 is an impossibility, be-

' coming a gymnastic featon the part of the organist. Due to the difficulty of properly playing the keys at and still operating the balance pedal, organists in numerous cases haveaband-oned technique and keep one foot upon the balance pedal at all times while any key that the other foot happens to strike on the keys n is the proper key so far as they are concerned. Music produced by this method of playing an'organ is heard in theatres a great deal.

My invention permits proper expression at all times under the direct control of the organist and at the same time leaves both feet free to properly play the keys at.

Referring to Fig. 1 and the means B, I have shown two manuals or. and b, and it is of course to be understood that other manerence characters applying to both of said manuals. The manual a includes the usual key which in this case is the natural key, the said key being transversely bored at 51 and 52 to receive pivot pins 53 and 54 which pivot pins aresecured to a portion of the key frame 55. The key frame is usually a rectangular member having end pieces 56 and side pieces 57 and 58 joined to such end pieces. The side pieces extend the length of the keys of each-complete manual and beneaththe said keys, and the rear side piece 58 acts to support the keys of one manual. The front piece 57 of the'frame is provided with guide pins 59 of which there may be ,one ormore adapted to be received within bores in the key. The key frame and keys are supported upon akey-bed 60 and the key bed has end members 61 and front and rear side members 62 and 63 respectively, thus forming a rectangular frame. Adapted to be associatedwith the key bed are springs '64 which act to hold the key frame in a position normally raised above the key bed. The front member .62 of the key bed is transversely bored at 65 and a: link 66 is passed throughgsuch opening and pivotally connected at 67 to thekey frame55. The lower end of such link is pivoted at 68 to a lever 69 which is in turn pivotally carried by a bracket 70. the bracket being associated with the key bed 60. shown at 50 were depressed sufficiently the same would contact with the key frame and move the key frame downwardly, such downward movement being resisted by the spring or springs 64, and such downward movement would move the link 66 and in turn move the lever 69, the end 71 of which lever would be raised. The said lever adjacent the end 71 carries a knife edge 72 and this knife edge is adapted to contactin step sequence with contacts 73. Thus, if the lever was depressed slightly it might contact with. the first contact 73 and a complete depression of the lever would cause the knife edge to contact with all of the saidmembers 73. There are as many contacts and wires leading from said contacts to the pressure box as there are magnets 12 adapted to actuate motorsv Thus. for any manual the swell 'or expression is directly under the control of the operator of said manual by a mere depression of the key or keys in said Thus, if the key 51 lit) manual. By holding the finger on one of the keys of themanual and, continuing to depress the same the swell is increased by completely opening all of the shutters 0. Each manual has its key frame and when the key frame is depressed by any one key of the manual the swell or expression is controlled. For the first time, so far as the in ventor is aWare,tl1e swell or expression is directly under control of the organist by a mere fingering of the keys, and the feet are scribed to partially open the expression shutters c. IVhen the finger leaves the'key to release the key frame the spring shown at v and which is interposed betwcen awall chamber 6 and a carrier on the rod 8, will move the rod 8 so as to close the shutters c. The system that I have just described permits ordinary fingering of the keys of the different manuals without operating the key frame, sired that the keys are further depressed to move the key frame. A second method of controlling the expression shutters is shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 6, wherein the seat or benchp normally placed in front of the console g is adapted to actuate a switch to control the opening or closing of the expression shutters. In this instance, the side'supports have one portion thereof curved, as shown at 101 and one of the side supports carries a bracket 102 adapted to engage an arm 103 when the seat or bench is tipped forwardly. and which arm 103 is bell-cranked as shown at 104 so that the same will be revolved when the bracket 102 engages the same to in turn move a contact arm 105 which carries a knife edge 106 adapted to engage in sequence the series of contacts 107 in all respects the same as does the contact 73 and with electrical connections 108 leadin from said contacts to the motor d. If esired, the back of the seat or bench, if one were placed thereon, might be utilized to actuate a switch to control movement of the motors d. The seat or bench 12 may be maintained in a definite position of placement in front of an organ by means of a spring 109 entering within a curved portion 110 of the seat support. or supports. This tipping of the seat or bench or movement of the back also directly controls the opening of the shutters after the key frame of the different manuals has been actuated and to this end the said seat or bench by its tipping may act in direct conjunction with such manuals. For g and it is only when expression is deinstance, if great expression is necessary and at the sametime rapid fingering tipping of the seat forward or movement ofthe back of the seat could control the expression while'ordinary fingering might be resorted to on the different keys of the manualsx It is of course to be realized that the method shown in the drawings and described for the seat is not the only one that could be incorporated, and within theinterpretation of my invention I-might pivot the seat.

It is also within the scope of my invention to provide separate switches to be operated from or controlled from the seat either singly or collectively and whereby the expression can be controlled.

It is obvious that various changes and modifications may be made in practicing the invention, in departure from the'particular showing of the drawings, without departing from thetrue spirit'of the invention.

Having thus disclosed my invention, I

"claim and desire tosecure by Letters Patent: I r

1. Means for controlling the swell of an organ, said organ includin'gthe usual console and a seat for the organist; means associated with the seat whereby upon movement of a portion of said seat the expression of the organ may beeontrolled.

Improvements in organs having the usual organ chamber and shuttersfor opening or closing a portion of said chamber to vary the expression of the organ, a console and a seat for the organist in front'of said con.-:ole;- movement of a portion of the seat by the organist controlling the opening or closing of the shutters.

3. Improvements in organs having a console and a seat for the organist adjacent" said console, and an organ chamber the expression of which is controlled by expression shutters, there being means controlled by the tipping of the seat to control opening or closing of the shutters; said means including a switch, and a motor coupled with the shutters, variable movement of the switch providing variable movement of the motor to provide variable movement of the shutters. V

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

CHARLES F. VVINDER. 

